Goodell’s Gets Grounded – Saints Victory (Maybe)

Roger Goodell seems to have gotten a comeuppance on his whole bounty punishment as the New Orleans Saints players and those accused of pay for pain have been reinstated by a judge. It’s been a painfully long and slow process and really at this point Goodell has dealt out a major punishment regardless of what happens down the line.

1) All the players have had their image tarnished

2) Jonathan Vilma has lost the opportunity to rehab his knee under the guidance of team doctors

3) Vilma has lost the opportunity to compete for his position by both being kept away from the Saints facility and by the Saints being forced to find another middle linebacker in Curtis Lofton. Some would argue that it would have happened anyway but we don’t know that.

4) Anthony Hargrove was re;leased by the Green Bay Packers. Would he have been cut if they could have planned on his presence for a complete season?

The bottom line is that Roger Goodell has ruled the NFL with an iron fist for the last few years and maybe it’s a good thing that he’s at least forced to answer to some kind of authority. How many of us would like an employer to rule over our work lives with the kind of hammer that the NFLs commissioner seems to wield? Especially in a career that can be painfully brief.

Let’s not believe that this is over. My gut tells me that Roger Goodell will be back with a new strategy, carefully researched by lawyers, to retake the ground given up in this recent ruling. However it all turns out, nobody is going to win.